Every MLB team’s payroll for the 2024 season

The baseball season is well underway. Every team has played at least 16 games, and even though the season is only a few weeks old, we've already seen the good (every team in the A.L. East and N.L. Central is .500 or better), the bad (the Astros, Marlins, and Rockies are a combined 14-41), and the ugly (the White Sox are on pace for over 140 losses).

It's always fascinating to examine the standings through the lens of payroll, as baseball is the only one of the four major North American sports that operates without a salary cap. There's also no salary floor. This creates wild payroll differences among teams that can't be found in any other sport. The Mets, who clock in as the biggest-spending team despite shedding huge amounts of salary at last year's trade deadline, have a total payroll nearly quintuple that of the lowly A's. To this point, that's only resulted in two extra wins, though the Mets have won four straight series after beginning the year 0-5.

Splurging on payroll does not automatically equate to playing winning baseball. The A's pioneered the Moneyball era in the early 2000s, and in recent years, the Rays have been the poster children of how to contend without spending money. Last year's division winners finished 6th, 7th, 10th, 16th, 19th, and 29th in payroll, while the World Series participants finished 4th and 21st. The top five spenders collectively finished just 14 games above .500, so buyer beware.

The Competitive Balance Tax is meant to keep team salaries from becoming too disparate, but as the chart below shows, the effectiveness of the CBT is questionable at best. Let's take a look at just how much each team is spending on payroll this year, with numbers provided by Spotrac.

Every team's payroll

For the second year in a row, the Mets lead the league in payroll, though Steve Cohen's team clocks in at $35 million lower than last year. The Mets failed in their pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto this offseason, then pivoted to filling out their roster in a more budget-conscious manner. The Dodgers, who ended up landing the Japanese star, dominated the offseason by also signing Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez, while trading for and extending Tyler Glasnow. Incredibly, L.A. is still more than $80 million behind the Mets in total spending, which is owed in part to the Mets still paying most of Max Scherzer's and Justin Verlander's salaries after trading them away.

The A's, who have somehow managed to alienate fans in three different cities as owner John Fisher continues to try to move the team to Las Vegas (and if there are any baseball lifers out there that are still sore about the franchise's mid-century moves from Philadelphia and Kansas City, we can raise that number to four or five), are once again the cheapest team in the league. While the $63.3 million number seen above is embarrassing enough (and still below just what Ohtani will make this season), the actual payroll committed to Oakland's active 26-man roster is less than $42 million, more than 50% less than the next closest team.

Every team's highest salary

It's no surprise that Ohtani ranks number one on this list after signing a 10-year, $700 million contract this offseason. What stands out, though, is what a bargain some of the best players in the game are. Bryce Harper is the Phillies' highest-paid player, but he ranks only 23rd in the league in terms of salary despite being one of the most fearsome hitters in the game. Matt Olson of the Braves led the league with 54 homers last year, yet he has only the 44th-highest salary. Other standout bargains include perennial All-Star Jose Ramirez of the Guardians and recent Orioles trade acquisition Corbin Burnes.

On the other end of the spectrum are players whose contracts have been albatrosses to their current franchises. Anthony Rendon, through a combination of ineffective play and inability to stay on the field, has to be mentioned first with his $38.6 million salary. Then there's Patrick Corbin, who, mercifully for Nationals fans, is in the final year of a six-year, $140 million contract while pitching to an 8.06 ERA.

Salaries in MLB have been a hot topic throughout this past offseason on a number of fronts. Ohtani's deferral of nearly his entire contract has inflamed opposing fanbases, while the continued prevalence of stars such as Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, and Jordan Montgomery, who have put off signing until close to Opening Day amid big contract demands, has been a hot button issue, as well. Then there are the A's, who refuse to spend any money at all.

It's too early to draw any conclusions about the effect team payrolls will have on this year's pennant races. The big-spending Yankees are atop the A.L. East with the young and affordable Orioles close behind, while the Guardians, Royals, Brewers and Pirates are off to fast starts despite spending very little. As last year taught us, it's not always how much you spend, it's how you spend it.